My main question is, should I use a VPN with accounts I already made on my real IP address? I have a tutanota and bitwarden account and addy i made with my real IP, will using a vpn be useless on these accounts or will it not matter?
Ik my question is pretty stupid, but I just need to be sure
It depends on what you are using a VPN for.
A lot of people struggle to answer questions like this in large part because they have not actually thought through the specific reasons they are using a VPN.
If you write (like physically write or type) a list of specific reasons you are using a VPN, the specific problems you are trying to solve, it will be much easier to think through questions like yours.
For example:
I agree with xe3, and it is useless.
You can’t really agree with him and say that it is useless, because he listed some reasons why it might not be and explicitly explained why there’s no general yes/no answer for every case.
For example a VPN is a pretty good thing to use when using wifi during traveling, airports, trains, buses, hotels, but also in your own city while working in cafes, co-working spaces, etc. because you can probably trust your VPN provider more than the ISP of some place you do not know and you don’t have a contract with yourself.
At home, you probably know a little bit more about your ISP and you have more opportunity to observe their behavior, what they do with your traffic (for example if they employ shaping, or censoring, or manipulate protocol headers etc.) and if you have stayed in that country for a while you probably also had opportunity to hear some opinions from other users so you can get a fuller picture of how they run their business. If it’s a great ISP, maybe there’s no need to run a VPN. If they’re shitty but you have no other options, a VPN might help alleviate some of the issues.
All of these examples have almost nothing to do with which services you actually use. But what they have in common is what @xe3 already said: They’re not situations that every internet user worldwide is definitely in. But some definitely are.
It is useless to login using VPN when you already used these services with your real IP.
Depends what service. Some services do not log your IP permanetly. One example is Proton Mail. Yes, they log the IP that you used to create your account temporarily but eventually it is erased (ill admit its not the best example as they do not give a firm timeline of how long they keep it for).
I dont really use it all the time but I mainly use it to prevent what my ISP sees what I visit. But only for certain websites.
I also brought my question up because I accidently logged into my bitwarden with my vpn on
so if I did on accident, it is not a huge concern?
I don’t know specifics, but I would not have much trust in T-mobile or any of the other major telecomms to be good stewards of your private data:
It depends on your usage and the type of online activities you engage in.
If your activities are typical, such as browsing websites or using social media, and you simply want to stay anonymous online, your current setup is likely sufficient.
However, if you’re an activist planning to criticize the government and rely on a VPN for protection, I strongly recommend purchasing the VPN anonymously for enhanced security.
Exactly @jerm. Its one or the other; key here is consistency.
Maybe I am missing something but, not all services collect and keep the log of a users IP indefinitely. In which case, there are some services where once that log has been removed, deciding you would rather them not log your home IP going forward could be valid.
You can never be sure.
Yeah but I tend to not base my decisions around FUD. Fear of not being sure is always going to be there anytime you use a service.
Is it really? It’s quite common for people to change ISPs, move to a new address in the same city or new city, and to move countries. In all of those circumstances, your IP address changes. Also, if your ISP lease is not under your name, but say, your roommates, you have some protection.
That said, OP’s concern is valid. Proton keeps a record of the IP address you create your account from. I would not be surprised if non Privacy companies did the same.
Similarly, if you used a credit card for pay for any of the services you use, it will reveal the country you are tied to even if you use VPN. Say you’re Australian, and you live in the US. If you use your Australian credit card to pay for Proton or Twitter, they will know you have ties to Australia, even you created your accounts in the US, or if you use an EU VPN location.
That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t use a VPN though. For accounts that are not that important, I would consider creating a new one. I really hope that soon, Proton will accept anonymous payments because right now, to some degree, you have more privacy with a free account than with a paid one.